In Somalia, Starvation Looms As Islamic Justice 'Prevails'
/On Friday, the World Food Program said “The food supply line to Somalia is effectively broken.”
America has delivered food to the region — 40 million pounds — but it’s being held up in warehouses in Mombasa, Kenya, according to the NYTimes. Somalia is in a state of total breakdown and lawlessness. UN officials say the country hasn’t been in such dire shape since the central government collapsed in 1991.
The US has played a crucial role in Somalia, supplying 40% of total food aid into the country.
With pirates boarding food ships with increasing frequency, there’s growing concern that America is indirectly funding Shabab, the Somali terrorist group with growing ties to Al Qaeda.
Americans are also focused on the ground, over concerns that UN contractors also may be funneling aid shipments to Shabab. They probably are.
With another pending starvation disaster on the world’s hands, the US really is in a catch-22 situation. If people start dying in massive numbers in Somalia, which AID officials insist is about to happen, America is again the global bad guy.
Let me say that concern for feeding the starving in Somalia is not big international news today. The NYT is doing the best job of tracking the issue.
Critics say that the US is ridiculous, thinking that life in Somalia operates without payoffs on every street corner. I understand this reality and can’t imagine that American AID execs don’t know this assertion to be accurate.
The most promising article I found online concerns a strategy whereby USAID works with UAE’s FACO, as a bridge to Muslim countries.
I understand that these negotiations don’t help the short-term situation in Somalia, a human disaster that requires action. But I’m one American who wants to get out of the line of fire. It’s a brilliant idea to put trusted Muslim allies in charge of aid operations in Muslim countries.
A displaced family taking refuge in a camp outside Mogadishu, Somalia. The United States has delayed food aid out of fears that it will be diverted to terrorists.Mohamed Dahir/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Personally, I think the idea raises consciousness all the way around. It’s clear to me that Muslim fundamentalists make other Muslims weapons of ideology. They could care less about killing each other.
America is not necessarily the bad guy in the challenge of getting aid to Somali people held hostage, not only by poverty and violence, but by religion.
Let me ask a question. Where are the Middle East countries in thsi discussion? I’ve written about the devastating problems in Somalia several times in the last year. Why do Muslim countries have no expressed concerns that Shabab is stealing food from other Muslims? Could someone please direct me to the articles and editorials condemning these actions? I have translators if they are written in Arabic.
Stoned to Death
While you and I are reading about the problem of feeding the starving in Somalia, Abas Hussein Abdirahman, 33, was killed in front of a crowd of some 300 people in the port town of Merka.
The man was stoned to death. His pregnant, 13-year-oldgirlfriend is temporarily spared, until she has her baby. Then she will be stoned to death also.
A European man just texted me, saying can’t you do something, Anne? Please help. And I will do what I can, but there’s not an ounce of rationality on the ground in Somalia.
On the streets of Somalia, these Islamic men are conducting breast inspections, forcing women to go “au naturel”. I call this complete and total decadence and a sordid obsession with sexuality and controlling women’s bodies.
The suffering of the Somali people is staggering, but it’s not America who is solely responsible for whether they live or die.
Watching this situation unfold is positively frightening.I repeat. Where are the Muslim voices comdemning this kind of ‘Islamic justice’ in Somalia. What’s acceptable to moderate Muslims and what isn’t? I want to know, because your silence is deafening, and I know you’re reading my question.
We all need to step up to the plate together here. Anne
More reading from Anne: Tostan News: 14 Somalia Villages Make History, Collectively Abandoning FGC
UN’s World Food Programme Moves to Close Centers in Starving Countries
Followup to above article with Angelina Jolie video in the camps
